The pressing of dust, powder, pellet or granular material, which also encompasses cosmetic powder is used everywhere, where these materials shall be brought into a solid form by pressing, such that an easier handling and an easier transport or an easier subsequent processing can be ensured. Thereby, the base material is commonly a mixture of different components, which each are in a dust, powder, pellet or granular condition and which have been mixed respectively prepared in such condition for forming the pressed material. Cosmetic powders commonly consist of a filler phase, a binder phase as well as a color giving phase and an active phase. The binder phase can basically be a separate phase or can be realized by an oil component, which is spread upon the filler phase.
In the cosmetic industry methods for compacting of powders are often used in the powder production. In the powder production for example loose powder is poured into a pressing pan and is subsequently pressed in the pressing pan by means of a die. For example U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,061 describes a system in which a cosmetic material is poured into a pressing pan and the cosmetic material is then subsequently compressed in this pressing pan by means of a die. The pressing pan itself is then subsequently delivered as part of the cosmetic material and forms for example an inlet for powder and/or a make-up case. Commonly for commercial purposes on top of such produced cosmetics, there is a lettering placed on top of the pressed material in form of an accumulation of cosmetic material. This has the disadvantage that already after a few uses the accumulation of the material is ablated, such that the lettering is not recognizable anymore. A first solution to this problem is described in US 2009/0041698 A1. Here a pressed powder element is created by means of a form. The form is thereby of such type that the form comprises a plurality of fillable regions. These regions can for example form the lettering as well as the bordering. These different regions can also be filled with different loose powders. Since the regions extend over the whole height of the form also a lettering, which is produced by these regions, is completely embedded in the powder element and not as described above only superimposed on it. After the filling, the form is removed and the still loose powder is pressed together to a powder element. Thus, a powder element is created, which for example comprises a lettering which extends over the complete height of the pressed powder element and which therefore can not be ablated by using the powder element.
In the systems known in the art, there exists however the problem of exactly filling the press apparatuses respectively the form. Thereby, it is in particular problematic that the powder poured into the forms is not distributed homogenously in the press apparatus respectively the form or that when different powders are used they already can mix in loose condition.
Further, the filling as described in the art is often performed by a system as for example described in the German patent DE 1 284 612, which describes a feeder. Thereby, it can not always be ensured that all material can be filled in the designated recess. A large amount of the material remains on the edges, rims and areas. This leads to the problem that not all materials can be used. Furthermore, when a material is changed an extensive cleaning has to be performed, such that the remaining material does not accidentally contaminates the new material. In particular, if a feeder is used for filling a form with two different powders as described in US 2009/0041698 A1 this problematic is given, namely that the loose powders can mix with each other. This can lead to the problem that for example the color of the lettering can be distorted by contaminating the loose powder with powder, which has a different color giving phase. Further, it can not be ensured that an optical sharp separation between powders, for example powders with different colors can be created. Furthermore, it can also not be ensured by such filling that the material is evenly distributed in the recess or in the container. This leads to the problem that also after pressing the material the material is pressed differently strong at different places. For example at places where before the pressing there was a lot of material the material is very strongly pressed, whereas at places where before the pressing there was only little bit material, the material is only pressed to a certain degree and is therefore still relatively loose.
Furthermore, in the systems as described in the art it is only with a lot of effort possible to adjust the apparatuses to the different materials respectively forms and colors in order to produce various batches of different material with the same quality. In particular, the above described filling also exhibits the problem of the exact dosing, since a homogeneous distribution of the material in a filling process can not always be ensured. Further, for every change in the lettering a new form has to be produced, which again is very time and cost consuming.
Therefore, there exist a need to provide a method and an apparatus with which pressed powder elements can be produced, without exhibiting the disadvantages of the prior art, in particular with regards to the mixture of loose powders when filling the forms. This need is fulfilled by the subject-matter of the independent claim.